To remain profitable and maintain a positive reputation, your criminal defense law firm must stay competitive and build a strong digital presence. One of the most effective ways to build your brand online and gain the trust of potential clients is to develop a marketing strategy.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects a 10% growth rate for the legal profession between 2021 to 2031. This is faster than average when compared to other careers. Because of the increasing demand for criminal defense lawyers, it is crucial that your firm stands out and attracts clients.
This article will examine how your criminal defense firm can create a marketing plan and explain which marketing tactics you can use to meet your goals.
How to Create a Marketing Plan for Criminal Defense Lawyers
Thousands of defense attorneys currently practice throughout the country. You must make your firm easily discoverable and memorable if you want clients to hire your firm. You’ll also want to position your practice as the solution to your clients’ needs.
A marketing plan can prove to your audience that you are trustworthy and empathetic, and know how to get them their desired results. To build your criminal defense marketing plan, you should:
- Define your brand: Branding goes beyond your firm’s image and personality. While it’s a good idea to remain consistent with the copy and images you use in your marketing materials, you must consider what traits your clients look for in a criminal defense lawyer. To appeal to your audience’s needs, consider using your brand to build trust, prove your credibility, and connect with clients.
- Set goals: Consider what your firm can achieve with a marketing plan. If you want to improve brand awareness, consider posting on social media or sponsoring events in your community. Other common marketing goals include generating leads, increasing website traffic, or ranking higher in search engine results.
- Create a budget: Your firm can employ many cost-effective marketing tactics, but related costs can add up quickly. Before creating a marketing plan, you need to know how much you can spend.
- Determine your audience: You should determine who you plan to target with your marketing efforts. Consider your firm’s geographic location and why clients in your area hire a lawyer to determine the type of content you should create.
- Measure performance: Once you launch a marketing campaign, you must measure its performance to gauge its effectiveness. You can use PracticePanther’s custom tags and reporting features to track performance and monitor your marketing campaigns.
Many criminal defense law firms also choose to outsource their marketing. This route allows your firm’s lawyers to focus on billable legal tasks while experienced marketers create a strategy for your firm.
Eight Criminal Defense Marketing Tactics
Depending on your law firm’s goals, some of the marketing techniques you might want to try include:
- Designing an Optimized Website
Your website should be easily navigable and contain informative content. Including elements like images, hyperlinks, keywords, and calls to action can benefit your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).
- Use Paid Ads
Using paid advertisements can help your firm find qualified leads. Platforms such as Google Ads allow you to run paid ad campaigns, helping your firm reach the top of search engine results pages. Ultimately, this puts your firm in front of clients searching for a lawyer.
- Make It Easy to Contact Your Firm
Consider using automated intake forms to make it simple for clients to contact your firm. PracticePanther allows your firm to embed intake forms into your website, email signatures, and Google My Business page. You can customize your intake forms so they match your firm’s branding.
- Prioritize Prospective Client Follow-Up
Don’t risk losing a potential customer by forgetting to follow up. You can automate your firm’s intake process with PracticePanther. With online intake forms and automated workflows, your firm can enhance prospective client touchpoints, you can avoid losing new business.
- Improve Thought Leadership
Gain the trust of potential customers by establishing your firm’s knowledge. Some ways to improve thought leadership include starting a blog on your website, contributing to publications, sending newsletters, and speaking at events.
- Create a Social Media Posting Schedule
Social media marketing can help your firm build a community and increase brand awareness. To be successful, it’s important to establish a consistent posting schedule to enhance your firm’s visibility. Sharing photos, videos, and informational content is a unique way to elevate your marketing strategy.
- Gather Reviews and Testimonials
Asking your peers and former clients to leave reviews helps your firm establish credibility. You may choose to email or prompt customers with an online form. Gathering reviews and testimonials can help prove to potential clients that your firm has achieved success and knows how to handle complex cases.
- Implement SEO Best Practices
Search engine optimization is essential to making your criminal defense law firm discoverable. Some SEO best practices to consider include:
- Using your Google My Business profile to increase organic searches in your area
- Linking to relevant, trustworthy sources on your website, such as government websites or legal publications
- Completing keyword research to incorporate relevant keywords throughout your website’s content
- Writing blog posts that use optimized titles and meta descriptions
Outlook of Marketing for Criminal Defense Lawyers
Your criminal defense law firm can maintain a competitive edge and uphold a positive image by creating a marketing plan.
Assess your firm’s goals, define your brand, and determine your target audience before creating a marketing strategy to ensure you’re using techniques that work for your company. Optimizing your website and consistently posting on social media are just a few strategies you can use to put your firm in front of qualified leads.
Modern solutions that can help your firm implement these marketing strategies. PracticePanther’s legal practice management technology can standardize and simplify the process, enabling your firm to keep up with the competition and remain profitable.
